Helping New Zealand’s fight against corruption

An important contribution to New Zealand’s fight
against corruption will be launched in Auckland today.

An integrity group which includes Transparency
International, the Serious Fraud Office, Deloitte, Chapman
Tripp, BusinessNZ, ExportNZ, the New Zealand Institute of
Directors and the New Zealand Institute of Chartered
Accountants have joined together to help better protect New
Zealanders in business from exposure to bribery and
corruption risk.

Ministers Hon Anne Tolley and Hon
Craig Foss will launch the project.

An online
‘Anti-corruption training' module for New Zealand has been
created by Transparency International and the Serious Fraud
Office which provides training on recognising and reporting
concerns about improper practices both within an
organisation and in external organisations. At a time when
New Zealand businesses and public sector organisations are
increasingly interacting with parts of the world where
corruption is commonplace, the training provides practical
assistance in developing an understanding of avoiding
bribery and corruption while doing business.

Deloitte and Chapman Tripp have also prepared personal
training courses aimed at raising awareness of the risk of
corrupt practices and to help businesses and other
organisations deal with such practice by others.

With many countries tightening their anti-bribery laws
and the OECD recommending a focus on raising awareness of
the risks of corruption, regular and open communication
about this topic is crucial. Following the training, users
will be able to:

understand what bribery
is

understand the legislation around bribery both in New
Zealand and around the world

recognise and respond
appropriately to situations that may indicate bribery.

The integrity group believe that all New Zealanders
should be proud of our very low levels of perceived
corruption but exposure to unethical business practice in
other countries could harm this reputation.

New
Zealand is ranked first equal in the world for freedom from
corruption, according to the latest Transparency
International Corruption Perception Index.

That
freedom from corruption is of immense value to New Zealand
businesses and the New Zealand brand, and the
anti-corruption training will help maintain this
standing.

Training courses will be run through the
country by the member organisations involved. The project
will also be launched in Wellington next week.

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